F1 Legend Calls Lewis Hamilton Lucky

Formula 1 veteran and legend of the sport, Jackie Stewart, talks about Lewis Hamilton and his success. The Scottish driver has said that ‘luck’ played an important factor.

Hamilton has been the dominant driver in recent time but how much of his success is down to his driving ability alone? Jackie Stewart believes that having the best car and the best team helps, but at the end of the day, he still has to drive well to win.

“Lewis currently is not only driving well, he has also got the best team in the world with the best engine in the world right now,” Stewart said to Motorsport.com.

“But he’s driving it well too. You’ve got so many other dimensions to it when you’re a Formula 1 driver, and the dependency of the car.

“When I left the Matra, I went to a March [for 1970]. Now that was a challenge!

“So, if Lewis were to go from Mercedes and go to an uncompetitive team, that would be a challenge.

“Lewis has done extremely well, but he’s been a very lucky boy, to have [former McLaren boss] Ron Dennis pick him up the way he did, to bring him up the way he did.

“And in those days, the McLaren was the best car in the world in Formula 1, including Ferrari.”

Hamilton is often regarded as the best of this generation, but to go down in history as one of the greats does he need to win at a lesser team?

So far, Hamilton has raced with top teams like McLaren and Mercedes. Meanwhile, others around him have debuted with lower ranked teams. Case in point, Sebastian Vettel, who debuted with BMW Sauber and then moved to Toro Rosso before joining Red Bull. Kimi Raikkonen also debuted with Sauber before joining McLaren. Finally, Fernando Alonso started his F1 career with backmarker team, Minardi.